IPVM is producing the definitive series on installing surveillance cameras. This entry covers one of the most common scenarios - installing dome cameras indoors and is the second entry following Installing Box Cameras Indoors Guide
Inside we teach how to install, including:
Plus, we provide 8 demonstration videos showing installation materials and methods for dome form factor cameras.
Steps To Installing Domes
Installing dome cameras have a few core steps:
Installation Materials
The first step to a proper installation is selecting the appropriate materials. The following video provides an overview of several different fasteners, anchors, boxes, brackets, and other mounting material used when installing domes.
In many cases, the cabling attached to a dome is best recessed into the wall in order to protect it from tampering, vandalism, and general unsightliness. To secure the cable within the wall or within a junction box, a special retrofit bracket is fitted to the wall for securely anchoring a box to the surface of the wall.
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It always amazes me how different installation practices are among different countries.
i’ve never seen almost any of the above mentioned tools and installation aids being used except for furing strips and spring wing toggle bolts.
Never seen low voltage brackets nor octagon spanners. Drywall recessed boxes are made in plastic over here and also round for easy drilling the right hole in the drywall
Thanks Gert. Aside from the furring strips and spring wing toggle bolts, what other installation materials and methods do you commonly use?
I haven’t seen the drywall mount8ng frames over here so mostly the camera is mounted directly onto the drywall using the same anchors as in your video. Allghough i prefer the me5al anchors instead of plastic ones, the plastic ones break to fast when screwing the in.
if i need more space behind the camera, we’ll use standard drywall boxes such as these
As you can see, compared to the metal octagonal ones that you show in the videos these are plastic. More imortan5ly, they’re round and so the whole is easier and faster to make than for an octagonal or rectangular one
instead of the lightweight furring strips we also use 20mm thick MDF above the ceiling tile. If you make it fit just in between the T shaped profiles then you can screw it to the T profiles if you lift the adjacent tiles. Disadvantage being that you can’t lift the tile with the camera anymore
for light cameras I will use the sheetrock drill in anchors, except not drill them in but attach them from the back side letting them compress the tile between the housing and the anchor. I also use them for ceiling mounted sensors (REX motions glassbreak's and PIR's.
So far, I have not gotten the chance to use furing strips whilst installing interior cameras! We typically use mini-dome cameras and nearly all ceiling installations have either taken place in drop-ceiling and wood ceilings/drywall. We typically use toggle bolts and drywall/wood self tapping screws respectively.
